This invention relates generally to an audio or video program, and more particularly to integrating the audio or video program with an application program, such as an email program or another type of program.
The popularity of small video cameras for use with personal computers has been increasing. Such video cameras are sometimes referred to as netcams or webcams. Typically, they connect to the Universal Serial Bus (USB) or other port of a computer, and enable users to record or stream video and audio into the computer. Popular applications of such cameras include small-scale video conferencing, live transfer of video onto a web site, as well as other applications.
Unfortunately, using such cameras in connection with existing application programs, such as and especially existing email programs, is difficult or inconvenient at best. A user, for instance, may wish to record live video and audio for sending to another user over email. Typically this means that the user must use a stand-alone computer program, usually supplied with the video camera, to record the video and audio, and save it as a separate file on the computer's hard disk drive. The user then must manually attach the file to an outgoing email, and hope that the recipient of the email has a computer with the capability to playback the file.
This scenario, however, presents numerous stumbling blocks. The user may not be sophisticated enough to save the recorded video and audio as a file, and may also not be sophisticated enough to manually attach the file to an outgoing email. This is especially the case with complex email programs, such as versions of Microsoft Outlook, available from Microsoft Corp., of Redmond, Wash. Even if the user can perform all this functionality, the end user still may not have a program that can playback the file, and may not know how to obtain one easily. Furthermore, at best this entire process is laborious, which itself may cause users to send video and audio with their emails far less than they otherwise would.
For these and other reasons, therefore, there is a need for the present invention.